Dortmund must neutralise Mainz's Burkardt, claims Kovac

Niko Kovač believes stopping Jonny Burkardt is key to beating Mainz on Sunday

Transcript

00:00Well, he was injured again and again, so he had a difficult phase to get through.

00:09And now he is the one who is not alone in the success of FSV Mainz 05.

00:15Others are also part of it, but he does it really well.

00:19And that shows that if you work well, if you stick to it, if you stay persistent,

00:26that you can show the qualities you have week by week.

00:30And that's why he was rewarded with the call-up or with the international game in Italy.

00:35Maxi is a similarly good player who, in my opinion, has taken a really good development

00:41over Hoffenheim or then Hannover 96, again Hoffenheim and now with us.

00:47I am very satisfied with Maxi and we also know about the strengths of Burkhardt.

00:52And that's what it's all about, that we turn him off.

00:55If we turn him off, we will certainly have a large part, I don't want to say done,

01:01but at least eliminated.

01:04But still, as I said, there are ten others who have also shown a very good performance

01:09in the last few weeks.

01:11And we have to be at home from the first to the last minute.